Pet owners, professionals in the agricultural field, veterinarians and biological scientists need to be able to evaluate an animal's general health. Decades of research in many scientific disciplines have been able to define physiological activities/norms and biochemical pathways that are necessary to maintain homeostasis and a normal state in all species.
In the scientific area of nutrition, a common question, regardless of the species, is how much of the energy (Kcal) fed to an animal is metabolized. Historically, getting scientific answers to how much of a particular diet has been metabolized has been accomplished by conducting feeding trials using a statistically relevant number of animals for a prescribed number of days. One of the short-comings when conducting these trials is that social animals (pack/herd species) must be isolated to ensure that the amount of food consumed and the subsequent waste (feces and urine) that are collected can be specifically identified to each test animal. This is commonly accomplished by separating animals into stanchions, pens, kennels, metabolism cages or paddocks. This separation prevents an animal from maintaining normal social interactions and restricts normal movement or natural behavior which in turn can create significant stress, discomfort, or unnatural elimination patterns, all of which can affect excrement samples.
Additionally, in the domestic cat, for example, there is a unique health concern related to urinary tract health. Commercially developed diets for cats have unique ingredient requirements, such as Taurine, and the mineral balance of diets can influence the urinary pH level. Most cat diets currently are formulated to slightly acidify the cat's urine to maintain urinary tract health. Lower urinary tract disease left untreated can result in morbidity or mortality. Lower urinary tract disease can also lead to inappropriate excrement elimination issues which can result in euthanasia or abandonment. Two collection methods are used to collect urine samples from cats participating in nutritional trials or when cat owners suspect urinary tract problems in the veterinary clinic. The first collection method requires the cat to be isolated in a cage until a urine sample is voided. Fresh urine samples must be evaluated immediately or there is a chance of bacterial contamination. An additional risk is the urine pH and chemical composition of the urine is altered by the oxidation process. Cystocentesis is the second collection method in which a veterinarian is required to insert a needle through the lower abdominal cavity and into the bladder to obtain a sterile sample. Cystocentesis, however, provides a single point in time sample which may not be indicative of the overall health of the urinary tract. While this method produces a very good sample, it can create stress to the animal during the collection process and may introduce some hemolysis into the sample.
There remains a need for an improved method for feeding animals and subsequently collecting the animal's excrement. There remains a need for an automated collection system to collect excrement samples from animals in a multi-animal environment. There remains a need for an automated collection system to collect excrement samples from an animal in a non-invasive manner. There remains a need for an understanding of the impact of an animal's diet on urinary tract and gastrointestinal tract health.